The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same which are suited for use, for example, in a semiconductor device having a magnetic memory and manufacture of it.
In magnetic memories such as magnetic random access memory (MRAM), a magnetoresistance effect element is used as a magnetic memory cell. A typical magnetoresistance effect element is equipped with a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) in which a tunnel barrier layer is sandwiched between two magnetic layers.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-187409 (Patent Document 1) describes a magnetic memory equipped with a data recording layer, a tunnel barrier layer formed on the data recording layer, a data reference layer formed on the tunnel barrier layer so as to partially cover the tunnel barrier layer, and a metal oxide layer formed on a portion of the tunnel barrier layer not covered by the data reference layer.    [Patent Document]    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-187409